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An Iranian firm has gotten its hands on technologies used to enrich uranium in a mysterious multinational transaction that sparked an investigation and is sure to stoke fears of the country’s burgeoning nuclear program.

In a chilling twist, the French firm that supplied the vacuum gauges and valves, and Tyco, the giant American industrial firm that owned the company until December, had no idea how the parts made it to Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Investigators believe that in recent weeks, the Iranian firm, Javedan Mehr Toos, bought the parts from an intermediary working for a Chinese company and whose nationality is unknown, according to the Journal.

Officials learned of the transaction through a Jan. 14 e-mail that had a subject line “For Iran Inspectors,” alleging the “careful and secret” transfer of the goods to Iran.

According to the note, JMT bought the valves from an intermediary, Vikas Talwar, who was working for a Chinese trade corporation.

“He’s definitely a procurement agent who acts on behalf of Iranian entities,” a law-enforcement official told the Journal.

Little is known about JMT, but the firm has been trying since last year to obtain the valves as well as magnets used in uranium enrichment for the Kalaye Electric Company, an Iranian company conducting centrifuge research.

Iran, under sanctions preventing it from buying the technologies, has made about 10 attempts over the past two years to obtain the uranium-enrichment valves.